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This is somewhat of a bug-bare that irritates me about myself and probably reflects on others and it’s something that, I’ve occaisionally made a conscious effort to break but still fall back into a very bad habit; Snobbery on coffee shops.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I don’t stick my nose up at a coffee shop because it doesn’t use SqM/HasBean/Monmouth/etc beans. The prime example for me is there is an internet cafe in a local shopping centre near me. For years I ignored it because its name contained ‘expresso’, this name actually ties in accutly with the name of the shopping centre in which it resides, but none-the-less for years I ignored this shop.

This was the first time I ignored my bad-habit and ventured inside, I ordered an espresso and received the best one I’ve ever experianced outside of London. A tad darker than my preference but a quality blend, imported from Italy (which for me is no mark of distinction, nor quality) but it was quite pleasurable, smooth, chocolatey, sweet and changing as it cool. I chatted with a passionate barista who made me feel a little less alone in the sea of branded coffee that dominated Milton Keynes (appoligies for a mixed metaphor there)

Today, I went out to indulge in some photography around some local villages, during my venturing I sought for local coffee shops. I encountered a few, mostly closed but a few open. Alas, I felt my snobbery bug kept me walking, some due to a certain white on red logo that immediated turns me away from a shop but others on less tangible, and certainly less important things.

I just got home and felt frustrated at myself for allowing this shortcoming to keep me from pottentially discovering some excellent coffee.

I appologise for this long and meandering post, but I post it for 2 reasons. The first hopefully being a form of carthasising this bad habit from myself and secondly hoping it will encourage anyone else with this innate avoidance of the unknown to wade in the waters of the unknown.

I beg and plead with myself and everyone else to venture into these unknown shops and risk having a bad shot with the chance of an amazing little gem.

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2 Responses to “Finding a new shop…”

i am not a big fan of coffee myself but one of my friends is crazy for it and this is exactly what she does, and obviously when am with her i do the same, we venture into unknown coffee shops… and are often surprised at how good the stuff is that we get !

I think it’s a bit of a worry for all of us who want a particularly good coffee. I find myself avoiding buying coffee at a few places because I don’t want the disappointment of a bad cup – I’d rather have a tea or hot chocolate about which I am more indifferent.

I’m more likely to try the coffee if they have named origins, and I’m also more likely to try filter/brewed rather than espresso. Maybe that’s experience – I’ve only had a handful of espressos I’ve not found much too bitter, whilst most brewed coffee (from independents anyway) is perfectly acceptable, if uninspiring.

But I do agree with the sentiment – very easy to overlook hidden gems.